"The
Association for Union Democracy is a rare organization run by people
who truly believe in protecting the rights of federal employees to participate
in their labor union freely, openly, and fairly.

Our
unions are vital to our rights in the workplace and AUD is vital to insuring
that labor unions are democratic and just. Please pledge a contribution
to AUD in the CFC this year."

John Riordan
First Vice President AFGE Council 220, Employee of the SSASupport
AUD: CFC Code 11741

Dear Federal or Postal Service Employee:

This year's Combined Federal
Campaign is about to begin. We hope that
you will choose the Association for Union Democracy (AUD) as one of the
organizations to receive your donations under the payroll deduction plan.
Please note our CFC Code Number: 11741.
If you have chosen AUD before, accept our thanks for your continued support.
We need you. We would be grateful if you would spread the word to your
colleagues at work.

Your donations to AUD
can do double duty. You help others, and you could be helping yourself.
As you support the rights of others, you help strengthen your own rights
by defending democracy in all unions, perhaps even your own. In this connection,
we remind you that your union is required to inform all members of their
rights in the union under federal law, and that notification must be repeated
at least every three years. If your union website or publication already
posts information on your democratic rights under federal law, it is probably
as a result of legal action by unionists who were advised and aided by
the Association for Union Democracy.

As you may know, the U.S.
Department of Labor was induced to adopt this ruling after years of campaigning
by AUD, including petitions to the DOL, a suit in Federal court, sponsored
by AUD, which compelled unions in private industry to obey the law, and
finally a request by AUD to the DOL that it direct federal employee unions
to do the same. (Federal
Employees Right to Know) This is the kind of work your contributions
will make possible, but there is more.

On this website you can
read of the public employees, nurses, transit workers, construction workers,
longshore workers, and many others whose stories we have told and whom
we have advised in their battles for union democracy. (If you want more
information, we'll be happy to send you our annual report on request.
You can also see AUD's form 990 on Guidestar.)
This year, by the way, at the request of members of one federal employee
union, we examined the whole text of their union constitution to help
them make it more democratic. (P.S. On the whole, we found the original
text rather good.)

AUD is a non-partisan, non-political,
civil liberties organization which focuses
on the rights of union members to fair elections, free speech, fair hiring
procedures, and due process in trials. We maintain that members should
have roughly the same rights in their unions as they have in our country
as citizens of the United States. And so over the years, AUD has advised
thousands of union activists, officers, caucuses, and group on what their
rights are under the law and how to enforce them.

Unions which respect the
rights of their members will themselves be respected and will be stronger
and more effective. And we are convinced that stronger and more democratic
unions are good for our country. The members of our Board of Directors
and Advisory Board are people with experience as union activists, union
leaders, workers rights attorneys, civil libertarians, and educators.

One last word: AUD
depends upon people like you. We get
no money from government, or from big corporations, nor, try as we might,
from rich foundations. We are not boasting of this simple fact, merely
reporting! We rely upon unionists, civil libertarians, and partisans of
ordinary fair play. Can we count on you to select AUD? And remember, you
can do even more painlessly: Spread the word, tell your colleagues at
work about AUD, and urge them to join with you in choosing AUD.

(Note:
please tell us when you giveSeveral
federal employees who have authorized donations to AUD under the salary
deduction plan of the Combined Federal Campaign have complained that they
have received no acknowledgement from us. We want to acknowledge and thank
you, but unless federal employees authorize the CFC to release their
names to us, we never know who gives through this program, and we never
know how much the donor gives even if the name is released. We receive
CFC payments in a lump sum amount, and no names are associated with the
amount. For those that have authorized it, names are made available to
us through a website, but we know that the names released to us are less
than the total. If any of your colleagues complain to you, please explain
and ask them to contact us directly.)

You can also contribute
online via our secure credit card service. If you want to contribute
offline, give us a call at 718-564-1114
, or write us at AUD, 104 Montgomery Street, Brooklyn, New York, 11225;
USA.

AUD
Wins Campaign for Federal Employees Right to Know

Section 105 of the LMRDA
requires unions in the private sector to inform members of the provisions
of federal law protecting their rights. But it is enforceable only by
private suit. A bill is pending in Congress that would authorize the Labor
Department to enforce Section 105. Meanwhile, however, the Civil Service
Reform Act gives exclusive authority to the Labor Department over democratic
rights for Federal employee unionists. The following letter was submitted
to Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao by AUD attorney Arthur Fox.

Dear Secretary Chao:

By letter dated April 5,
several legal scholars and I submitted on behalf of AUD a rule making
petition to close a loophole in the Department's regulations implementing
the Civil Service Reform Act .... More specifically, we requested you
promptly to require unions representing Federal employees to inform
members about their democratic right within their unions, just as all
other union operating in the private sector are required to do by Section
105 of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act ....

While the petition can hardly
be said to be controversial, nonetheless it seems to be languishing
somewhere within the Department .... To date our rule making petition
has neither been granted nor denied; rather, it hangs in limbo. Needless
to say, while we hope you will grant the petition, we would at least
appreciate your taking action on it, in one way or the other.

Use
the following credit line on the materials you use: "From the
website of the Association for Union Democracy. www.uniondemocracy.org. Email:
info@uniondemocracy.org. 104 Montgomery Street, Brooklyn, New York, 11225; USA;
718-564-1114"